1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an internet facsimile device capable of transmitting and receiving a facsimile via the internet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Due to the expanded use of the internet in recent years, Japanese Patent-Application Publication (Kokai) Nos. HEI-8-242326 and HEI-9-149189 have proposed internet facsimile devices that can transmit and receive a facsimile via the internet.
According to the internet facsimile device proposed in Japanese Patent-Application Publication (Kokai) No. HEI-8-242326, an image is read from an original document by an image scanner, and facsimile data is generated and temporarily stored. Subsequently, the facsimile data is converted to electronic-mail (e-mail) data and transmitted along with a header to a receiving party via the internet. The header includes a destination address, a source address, and information on its data format and conversion method in which the e-mail data is converted to a character code. The e-mail data received by a receiving party is converted back to the facsimile data and output to a printer so as to be printed out.
In these conventional internet facsimile devices, upon receiving a facsimile, a receiving party can know a sending party of the facsimile. However, the receiving party cannot know what type of facsimile has been received, for example, whether or not it is in urgent.